Merry Christmas! This week at the multiplex, we’ve got a financial fraudster (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill); a timid daydreamer (“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” starring Ben Stiller and Kristen Wiig); a pair of geriatric prizefighters (“Grudge Match,” starring Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro); a legendary warrior (“47 Ronin,” starring Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada); a pop music sensation (the documentary “Justin Bieber’s Believe”); and a human rights hero (“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” starring Idris Elba and Naomie Harris). Find out what the critics have to say on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The Wolf of Wall Street”

Martin Scorsese knows how to capture the vicarious allure of criminality better than just about any other filmmaker. Critics say he’s in fine form with “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a slick, sleek, and surprisingly funny tale of financial fraud that features a riveting performance from Leonardo DiCaprio. The film follows the rise of Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio), the founder of a boiler room that sold worthless stocks to naïve customers. Belfort’s ill-gotten gains finance a staggering level of conspicuous debauchery, but he’s shrewd enough to stay one step ahead of the government — for a while, anyway. “The Wolf of Wall Street” is Certified Fresh at 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer; check out some of the reviews here:

Fresh: “Scorsese is jabbing hard at America’s jackpot culture. The laughs are merciless and nonstop, every one with a sting in its tail.” — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Fresh: “A big, unruly bacchanal of a movie that huffs and puffs and nearly blows its own house down, but holds together by sheer virtue of its furious filmmaking energy and a Leonardo DiCaprio star turn so electric it could wake the dead.” — Scott Foundas, Variety

Fresh: “An overstuffed, pedal-to-the-metal joyride through a life lived according to the purest precepts of free-market capitalism.” — Marc Mohan, Oregonian

Rotten: “Handsome, sporadically amusing and admittedly never boring — but also bloated, redundant, vulgar, shapeless and pointless.” — Lou Lumenick, New York Post

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

For all its evocative detail, James Thurber’s 1939 short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is pretty brief, so it takes an imagination worthy of the title character to extend it to feature film length. Critics say Ben Stiller’s fantasy world looks great and has an optimistic tone, but its story often feels episodic and tonally uneven. Stiller stars as a reverie-prone Life magazine photo editor with problems at work: he’s derided by his boss, he’s got an unrequited crush on a co-worker (Kristen Wiig), and he can’t find an image that’s set to run in the next issue. He escapes into a globe-spanning fantasyland of his own creation — which might be just the thing that snaps him out of his rut. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is currently at 44 percent on the Tomatometer; here’s what some of the critics are saying:

Rotten: “The movie plays more like a series of pretty pictures than a journey into the character’s head.” – Robert Levin, amNew York

Fresh: “Audiences willing to tune in to its blend of surreal fantasy, droll comedy and poignancy will be rewarded.” — David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

Fresh: “What lifts this studio comedy, Stiller’s fifth feature as director, is its sincere ambivalence about fulfillment in the age of iPhones and image saturation.” — Nicolas Rapold, Film Comment Magazine

“Grudge Match”

Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro played two of cinema’s most iconic boxers, and “grudge Match” purports to be a lighthearted fantasy bout between Rocky Balboa and Jake “The Raging Bull” LaMotta. Unfortunately, critics say it’s more tomato can than contender — a film with a promising premise that rarely punches above its weight. Thirty years after hanging up the gloves after splitting their two matchups, bitter rivals Henry “Razor” Sharp (Stallone) and Billy “The Kid” McDonnen (De Niro) have a fisticuffs-filled reunion while performing motion capture for a video game. When news of their punch-up spreads, the two fighters agree to a long-delayed rubber match – and a lot more than pride is on the line. “Grudge Match” is currently at 36 percent on the Tomatometer; here’s a rundown of the reviews:

Rotten: “In the end, this is no Ali-Frazier grudge match. It’s more like Larry Holmes coming out of retirement to make $3 million as Mike Tyson’s punching bag.” — Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

Rotten: “Although he has no debts to us, perhaps it’s time De Niro really considered if he doesn’t owe himself a little more.” — Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

Rotten: “It will come as a surprise to none that ‘Grudge Match’ is so wantonly clichéd that to watch it is to explore the outer perimeters of one’s own tolerance for a specific type of feel-good sports film. ” — Steve Macfarlane, Slant Magazine

Fresh: “I’d shave a round or two off ‘Grudge Match,’ but its heart and its fists are in the right place.” — Chris Knight, National Post

“47 Ronin”

From the silent era to the present, the tale of the 47 Ronin has inspired some of Japan’s greatest filmmakers. Now it gets a big-budget Western adaptation, but unfortunately, critics say the human element gets lost under a barrage of overblown CGI effects. When a disgraced feudal lord is compelled to commit suicide after a confrontation with a corrupt official, his disgraced followers (a group that includes an orphaned swashbuckler played by Keanu Reeves). “47 Ronin” is currently at 15 percent on the Tomatometer; here are some of the reviews:

Rotten: “While the visuals are lovely to behold, this unremarkable version of the classic 18th century Japanese legend is stiff and uninvolving.” — Claudia Puig, USA Today

Rotten: “’47 Ronin’ would have been more fun if it kept swinging its sword instead of falling on it.” – Rafer Guzman, Newsday

Rotten: “An unremarkable fantasy-adventure, ’47 Ronin’ skimps on the samurai action and stumbles when trying to be about weightier themes such as honor and destiny.” — Tim Grierson, Screen International

Fresh: “A decent, colourful samurai spectacle with a classical look (lots of symmetrical compositions) and a story which stands up under multiple retellings.” — Kim Newman, Empire Magazine

“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”

“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” goes into wide release this week, and critics say it’s a decent if not always inspired look at Nelson Mandela’s life that’s bolstered by a terrific central performance by Idris Elba in the title role. Based upon Mandela’s autobiography, the film follows the South African political leader’s life from his early activism to his time in prison to his election to president in the first post-Apartheid elections. “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” is currently at 61 percent on the Tomatometer; here are a few of the reviews:

Fresh: “Elba has so inhabited the character that you might be stunned to see photos of the real man, during credits, and realize the extensive physical differences.” — Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press

Rotten: “Superior acting aside, ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’ feels like a film you watch because you should, not because you want to.” — Tony Hicks, San Jose Mercury News

Rotten: “[Maybe Mandela is one of those historical figures whose life is greater, more larger-than-life, than any mere movie could ever do justice to.” — Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

“Justin Bieber’s Believe”

Sorry, Beliebers: we’d love to tell you what the critics thought of “Justin Bieber’s Believe,” but it wasn’t screened for critics prior to its release in theaters. If Bieber’s previous doc, “Never Say Never,” captured the rise of the pop star, “Believe” purports to show how his world has changed now that he’s on the cusp of adulthood. Check back with Rotten Tomatoes for reviews when they become available.

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.